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Jerald Stone was the top man for many years in Lathrup Village, just north of Detroit.

But now, at 85, he has been retired now for a long time. Yet he’s still working for the city — or rather, for his neighbors. A Lathrup official contacted me recently to let me know Stone spent much of the summer painting dozens of the city’s fire hydrants for free.

Stone and his wife, Betty, have been beautifying their community for decades. Stone sat down with me on Wednesday to tell me why.

QUESTION: You were the city administrator here for many years.

What made you decide to become the clean-and-paint-all-the-fire-hydrants guy?

Just continuing interest in upkeep in this city. It was my job for all these years and I thought I’d like to do all I can to help out.

Why fire hydrants, though? You could have swept the trash off the street or you could have helped neighbors with gutters, that kind of thing.

Well, I think that hydrants are, there’s a single job and then I’m able to pick and choose my time, and I don’t work for anybody, and it’s at my leisure, and as I want to. And on a good day, four of ‘em. But I’m dead tired at the end because there’s a lot of gettin’ up and down, and on my knees.

You can do four fire hydrants in one day, though?

A couple of times I did. But it all depends on how dirty they are.

You told me you’ve done this in other years when the fire hydrants needed maintenance.

Yes, I would say the last time I did it was about 10 years ago.

OK. Now you’re 85 and you’re gettin’ down on your knees doin’ four fire hydrants a day sometimes.

At the most. Usually, on a Sunday. And, of course, I go out on sunny days. That’s another thing, the hydrant has to be in a location where it’s visible. So if it’s stuck in the middle of the block or the end of the block and no one sees it, that doesn’t rise to the top. It’s gotta be in a visual area where the most people get the benefit.

And there’s hundreds of fire hydrants in this little town. How many did you get done this year?

63.

63. You scraped 'em down and you painted them and turned them from old looking tattered, rusty things into brand-new-looking red, white and blue fire hydrants.

Yes. Isn’t that great? (Smiles.)

And you just finished up recently. It’s too cold now, right?

Yeah. There was a time in early November where we got unseasonably warm weather. ... It was my last day, and I befriended, or they befriended me, a couple on Lathrup Boulevard at Avilla, and they said, “Why aren’t you gonna paint ours?” And I said, “Well, I’m running out of time.” I said, “I’ll take care of it.” Those are two that we just finished up and truly, the next day, fall came.

Tell me the process. These things are pretty low to the ground, the paint was flaking off, there’s a lot of rust. What do you have to do physically to make this happen?

Well, I come up to it with a wire brush and a scraper and a hammer and chisel. I have a folding chair. And I just sit there and I work on it as I go around. Same thing with painting. I move around and towards the end when the base is revealed, and it has to be the black covered with a spray can, then I’m on my hands and knees. Some of the caps right there, I have to get underneath and I really get close to the ground, and paint upwards.

What kind of toil is this physically for you?

Well, it’s good exercise. And I love garden work. I love cutting the lawn, raking leaves and because I have a chance to be by myself, and to think. And I got a lot of good ideas while doing that. And the same thing paintin’ these hydrants. I’m out in the city. And it’s surprising and it’s welcome when people come up and wanna talk to me about this. And they’re very appreciative. They say well, thanks a lot. This is nice. So I’m satisfied that I’m doin’ good in the neighborhood.

And I know the city approves of you doing this. They’re not paying you. This is volunteer time.

That’s correct. And I pay for all of my own supplies.

In the end, what do you get out of it? You’re spending your own money, you’re expending your energy out there. What does it do for you?

I feel good about doin’ this. I do. It’s something concrete. It’s something that no one else would do. So I feel I’m filling a need there.

But you’re 85. You’ve got a beautiful house. You and your wife could be spending all that time together. Shouldn’t you be takin’ it easy?

(Chuckles.) No, not really. Once you get retired — I used to play golf. I don’t. My friends are all gone. And it’s tough to swing a club now. To be active is part of retirement. As an example I’ll tell you that, when I was working, I worked hard. And I think I got a good trade-off. They got good service from me and it was a good job. ... To be active, and then to be active in this manner, cleaning up and giving something good to the community, it’s not a chore. It’s a pleasure. And it’s uniquely mine, because I don’t see anybody else out there doing something like this. Or wanting to.